Monthly Archives: April 2019
What should you say to your staff about pensions next week?
Next week most staff will see for the first time the impact of their increased pension contributions on their pay. They may ask you, if you are the boss or run payroll or pensions or work in HR, what this … Continue reading
Transparency bites the fund industry
From top to bottom of financial intermediation cost disclosure is causing problems. UBS and Goldman Sachs have been fined eye-watering sums for failure to provide the right information for others to disclose to their clients. They are not alone. Those … Continue reading
Learning to live and love the FCA
The pension map has two views of the world, . One view sees pensions as retirement savings and is governed by the FCA, the other sees retirement savings as pensions and is governed by the Pensions Regulator. It’s as binary … Continue reading
Posted in FCA, pensions
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Pru’s IGC 2019 report – steady as you go.
The main theme of Lawrence Churchill’s fourth Prudential IGC Chair Statement is steady as you go. The IGC got off to a good start in 2015 by picking a value for money benchmark which was outcomes based. I has stuck … Continue reading
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Making IGCs relevant – FCA’s consultation
The FCA has published a consultation on whether to extend the remit of IGCs to monitor a life company’s engagement with Environmental, Social and Governance issues and to have oversight on the default investment pathways for non-advised drawdown. … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
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Can CDC offer private school pensions?
The Department of Education has a cunning plan. Put money behind pensions for teachers in state education and ransome private schools and colleges of higher education for higher pension costs. The policy is justified as an end to a tax-payer … Continue reading
St James Place GAA Chair Statement- a must read
There aren’t many employers or policyholders that SJP run workplace pensions for, but though they are few, they merit a mini-IGC – known as a Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA). The SJP GAA Chair Statement is an excellent document that … Continue reading
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Are IGCs and Trustees worth it?
The best test of the value of an IGC or an occupational trust board is to imagine how things would work without one. Before 2015, insurers ran workplace pensions for multiple employers using the bald trust of … Continue reading
Posted in age wage, CDC, pensions
Tagged fiduciaries, fiuciary, IGCs, pensions, trustees
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Could pensions yet break state education?
The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is one of only eight guaranteed by the Government; provides additional benefits linked to salary; is inflation-proof to offer teachers a secure retirement; and offers the typical teacher around £7,000 in employer contributions every year. This … Continue reading
From zero to hero – the Hargreaves Lansdown IGC report
Hargreaves Lansdown’s (HL) 2015 -16 IGC report was embarrassingly bad. I got cross that a successful funds platform didn’t put its back into independent governance. Hargreaves’ Vantage product (now HL Workplace Pension) was at the time being widely promoted as … Continue reading
Posted in IGC, pensions
Tagged Hargreaves Lansdown, HL, IGC, pensions, Value for Money, VFM
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